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The Blind Man

I have been thinking lately about doing something like what we used to do back in Canton for Bible study.  It was biblical study based off the Quaker idea that all people are endowed with the Spirit of God to a greater or lesser extent depending on your obedience to it, but that all people have some of the “light of Christ” as we are all His artwork.

So what I thought would be stimulating and valuable for all of us, whether a spiritual novice, new to any faith at all or to Christianity, or like me one who has been around this stuff from an early age – I invite you to participate in this community wide dialogue.  Spend as little or as much time as you like in reflection and dialogue with this passage, but please put it on the blog so that we can all interact.

can to join the table?

Here are some guidelines:
Ask the Holy Spirit to open your mind to the passage.

1. Comment on how the passage strikes you, what stands out to you, or what meaning it has in your life (any, all three or some different observation can be made).

2. Leave comments on what others stated, how you resonate with another’s viewpoint, how it encourages you, or brings something else to mind.

3. Even if you don’t comment please read, reflect and enter into the offerings of other’s writings, try to appreciate and take away something from them for your own spiritual life and/or community.

4. If you care to disagree with another’s interpretation, first check to see whether the person meant their interpretation as an all inclusive thought or a personal thought (this makes a big difference in how one might apply a thought) and second – the motivation for disagreement is to exhort, sharpen as iron or further stimulate thought.  It should be done in the Spirit of Christ, and not as slander, ridicule or as one being superior to another.

Remember that we all have something to learn from one another regardless of how many points you think you may or may not have in the kingdom…

I will chime in from time to time and participate in the dialogue at hand.

Below is the passage to comment on
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John 9:1-13
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.  We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.  The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”  Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”  But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”  He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.”  They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

Next week I will finish this story but for now focusing on this will be enough.